News

Flagship February

We here at YellowBelly Beer love our one-off specials. They give us the opportunity to be experimental, innovative and to collaborate with some of the best breweries around. While February will be no different, we’ll also be giving some extra love to our flagship range this month – the beers that keep our glasses full and fridges stocked throughout the year. We love brewing and drinking these four beers and we hope you will too, while enjoying some new videos, comics, animations, food recipes using the beers or joining us at an event near you.

We will also be running a competition throughout the month for a mixed case of our flagship beers. To be in with a chance to win, post a photo of yourself drinking Citra, Hopped in Space, Kellerbier or Castaway using the hashtag #YellowBellyBeer. On the last day, the 28th February, we’ll put all the names into a top hat and the winner will be chosen at random. The person who sends us the BEST picture, as chosen by our team, will receive a very special token of appreciation from us.

Flagship Beers

‘Citra Pale Ale’ American Pale Ale | ABV 4.8%

When YellowBelly launched in May 2015 our Head Brewer Declan Nixon was given a short brief by founder Nicky Lambert. “Give me a nice pale ale, and the rest is up to yourself.” Nicky might have lived to regret the second part of that brief, but Declan exceeded himself with the creation of his award-winning Pale Ale. Originally titled ‘APA MK 3’ on the brewpub’s chalkboard, it got a rebrand in May 2016 and has since been known as ‘Citra Pale Ale.’ June 2017 was an important year for the brewery as we moved to our new plant, with inhouse canning line. This allowed the beer to be nationally distributed in bars and off licences across the country. Many awards and mentions in high profile publications later, the beer is now our biggest seller and exported to 9 European countries. Despite the name, there are no citrus additions to the beer and all the orange and grapefruit flavour is derived from the use of the ‘Citra’ hop. The malt bill is simple and uncomplicated to allow the characteristics of the hop to shine through. Most of the hops in this beer are added during post fermentation in a process known as ‘dry hopping.’ This highlights the fruity properties of the hops whilst also extracting minimal bitterness. All these steps go into making ‘Citra Pale Ale’ the beer it is today and enjoyed throughout Ireland and beyond.

Castaway | Passionfruit Sour | ABV 4.2%

“Lets brew a sour beer with added passionfruit and sell it in our provincial town brewpub” – is an unverified snippet of a conversation sure to have been had sometime in April 2016. Luckily nobody objected and ‘Castaway’ was born. First packaged into the fabled YellowBelly bottled series of June 2016, this beer put the brewery in the thoughts and hearts of craft beers fans across the country and remains a cult classic ever since. Now available as a permanent offering in keg and 440ml cans. Castaway is a kettle sour which means it has been soured using lactobacillus in the boil kettle. The bacteria are killed during the boiling process, and the finished beer keeps its acidic quality. The addition of a tropical Islands worth of passion fruit into the fermenter adds all our extra layers of tartness, fruit and sourness which gives ‘Castaway’ its unmistakable aroma and flavour. A beer that just has to be tried and enjoyed all year around.

Kellerbier | Unfiltered Helles Lager | ABV 4.3%

At 4.3% ABV the only thing this lager shares with mainstream equivalents is the alcohol content. When we set out to brew a lager, we knew we wanted to brew one with flavour. We took inspiration from the kings of the style in Germany and got it into keg and 500ml ‘Big Boy’ cans. Our ‘Kellerbier’ is an unfiltered Helles lager, so expect a slightly cloudy appearance, sweet malty flavours and a full-bodied mouthfeel. Carbonation is also kept lower than its mainstream friends to allow the flavour to be appreciated fully. The finish is clean and smooth with a low bitterness to encourage continuous quaffs.

Hopped in Space | IPA | ABV 5.5%

‘Hopped in Space’ was made part of the permanent line up in May 2018 when our 440ml cans first started hitting shelves, and it has proved to be a very popular addition. This West Coast IPA is packed to the brim with flavours of peach, mango, orange and grapefruit. This is achieved with the heavy-handed use of Mandarina Bavaria, Simcoe, and Summit hops. All famous for their punchy, juicy fruit qualities. This beer pours a shade of copper as some darker malts are also used to provide balance, sweetness and to increase mouthfeel. The malts in question being Pilsner, Vienna, Red X, Cara Clair. These layers of malt are skilfully matched and balanced with the hop additions to provide a classic example of the West Coast style.

You can find these beers in all good stockists of craft beer across Ireland, and can now be found across Europe thank to our hard working distributors. If you want to find your nearest stockist, use the link below or send us a Private Message on Social Media using @yellowbellybeer.